A New Chapter
by thisdayandage
Summary: Set immediately after The Doctor leaves Rose with his Meta-Crisis double in Pete's World in Journey's End. Doctor!Whump included
1. Run

**[A/N: I've wanted to write a fic like this for a long time, but needed an idea to be exactly right. If you have any critique, please do provide it. Cheers!]**

Rose Tyler was caught up in her moment of passion with this new blue-suited half-Doctor. She almost dismissed the creak of the wooden door behind her, but was abruptly snapped out of it when it slammed shut.  
Faltering only at the distressing gong of the cloister bell, she hastily began to run back to the ship, but the engines had already begun their take-off cycle and Rose Tyler was left standing, in disbelief and forced to watch as her Doctor left her one last time.

A familiar hand sought out hers and was soon clasped firmly in a mutual act of comfort. Only then did Rose's fixed gaze finally shift. Looking into this Doctor's eyes and noting how he just stared at her with utter despair, she immediately knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" Rose spluttered.

"It's Donna", he confirmed. "There's never been a human-Time Lord meta-crisis before."

"And, so what?" she prodded.

"Rose, there can't be –Aargh!" The Meta-Crisis Doctor's hand suddenly slipped from Rose's as he fell awkwardly to the sand.

"Oh my god!" cried Jackie, rushing up beside them. "What's happening?"

"I don't know Mum. He just collapsed", stated Rose, as she kneeled down beside the crumpled man.

"Doctor, Doctor Can you hear me?" she tried desperately.  
The Doctor gave no response, but seemed to slump more heavily.

"He must need medical attention Rose. Oh dear, what's the number for 999, in Norway?" panicked Jackie.

"Mum, we can't ring an ambulance. They'll just do experiments on him." Rose explained, as she searched for a pulse.

"But he said himself, that he's only got the one heart now. You heard him." Jackie interjected.

"He might be part human now, but who knows how much? We can't risk him becoming some kind of vivisection project', justified Rose. "His heart beat is erratic. I think he's in a lot of pain." Steadily she moved him, so that he was lying on his back, in a more comfortable position, then leant down to check his breathing and pulse again.

"I'll phone your father. It's something at least", said Jackie, pulling out her phone.

Rose knelt over the seemingly unconscious man. The would-be-could-be Doctor, her last life-line and begged him to open his eyes.

She couldn't help but think how closely he resembled the Time Lord that had just left her, once more –left _them_. It was a hard enough blow to her, let alone a new born, who'd already committed genocide and been cast out into another universe. Oh, he was _so new_. There would be so much he'd have to get used to -for them to get used to. Assuming he pulled through this, that is.  
It had happened before. Her Doctor with the big ears and the leather had suddenly changed, and with him, her entire world. A whole new body and a different personality, they both had to get used to and yet, he was the same man. Of course, first he'd been unconscious for a good while, struck sick in bed, while his body adjusted.  
Is that like what was happening now, regeneration? It was her closest bet. Yet, still a shot in the dark. It was just like he'd said, before so abruptly passing out. There's never been something like this happen before. She just had to hope he'd somehow be okay, because he was her last hope.

"Pete's got someone coming to get us." Jackie informed her daughter. "Bless his contacts."

"Fantastic", spoke Rose, kissing her mother. "How long will that take? We can't stay here with him for too long, or the tide will come in."

"Hopefully not long. How about we move him further up for now though, Just in case?"

"Yeah", agreed Rose, nodding.

So mother and daughter worked together to heave The Doctor up near the rocks and leant him down to rest. After studying him closely, Rose noted he looked paler. Worry twisted in her stomach.  
She wanted so much for him to be alright, but at the same time she didn't want to be with him. It still felt wrong. Her Doctor was still on the TARDIS somewhere, dealing with Donna and whatever might be happening to her also.  
She wondered what he might do for the red-head. The TARDIS had medical equipment aboard. No doubt he'd be acting fast, doing anything and everything in his power to help his friend. However, Rose was left here, on a beach with next to no resources. Yes, Torchwood had some alien medical care, but that all that was way back in London. Could they make it there in time? And would it even be enough?  
Surely The Doctor hadn't known this would happen? It just wasn't in his nature to be so cruel. This Meta-Crisis Doctor claimed he was the same man, after he had committed genocide. That was what The Doctor had accused him of, saying he was _"Born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone?"_ He told Rose to make him better. Could she do that? Did she even have it in her? After all the time she'd spent trying to find The Doctor and now been merely fobbed off with only half the man she fell in love with.

When an official looking vehicle finally pulled up by them and a smartly dressed man stepped out, Rose forced herself to come to a decision. Pete's contact's English was rusty, but he didn't seem to be surprised by The Doctor's condition. Clearly he'd already been briefed by Pete Tyler over the phone. They helped get The Doctor into the back, so that he was lying across the seat, his head resting in Rose's lap.

'_How long did you wait?'_

'_Five and half hours.'_

'_Good. Always wait five and a half hours.'_

Rose remembered how the first time she'd been left in this universe by The Doctor. How she waited next to that cursed white wall at Torchwood, because of that one remark he'd made, back on that spaceship with Madame de Pompadour. Unlike before, it had all been for nothing. She hadn't given up on herself though. With Torchwood, she'd built the dimension cannon just to get back to him.  
Now however, she didn't have five and a half hours to wait. The Doctor in her lap wasn't doing well and needed help soon. She didn't have the same faith in the other Doctor any more, the man who couldn't even say those three simple words.

It seemed to be that the life that had started, so young, at only nineteen with the word _'Run'_, was now becoming a whole new chapter, many years later, which began with _'I love you'_.


	2. I Love You

**[A/N: Thank you readers and reviewers for the positive response. I'm having a lot of fun writing this one. I am glad there are people who will read it and enjoy it just as much.]**

There was nothing else for it. They were going to be air-lifted to Torchwood London. A few extra calls on Pete's behalf and they were on a helipad, boarding their helicopter, the faster alternative to a zeppelin. The Doctor had been put onto a stretcher and given oxygen, for all the good it might do him.

The paramedic that rode with them was oblivious to the fact he was caring for a half alien, half human hybrid, only told that he was suffering from an unknown medical condition and being taken to a specialist that could treat him in London. He was on strict instructions not to put any sort of drugs into him, due to the possible risk of a major allergic reaction. Gentle slaps to The Doctor's face had failed to rouse him and it was clear he'd most likely be out of it for a while longer.  
The ride seemed to drag on forever and not a lot was said. Sitting huddled to her Mother, Rose tried to focus on the monotonous sound of the propellers, willing the time to pass by quicker. Growing paler by the minute and his body temperature steadily rising, The Doctor only seemed to be getting worse.

"I need to bring his temperature down", stated the paramedic, tugging off The Doctor's trousers, when his fever had decided to not only spike, but sky-rocket. Urging both women to help hold him up, he removed The Doctor's blue suit jacket and then resorted to cutting through the now sweat soaked T-shirt. Sourcing some ice packs, he placed them around The Doctor's head, under arms, chest and stomach. In short, anywhere he possibly could. To the passengers' relief, his temperature dropped a little.  
Other than make sure he was breathing and his heart kept beating, there was not a whole lot else they could do, except hold tight and wait until they landed, so he could receive further treatment.

"We'll be there soon Doctor. You're going to be fine" Rose insisted, stroking the damp hair away from his sweat soaked forehead.  
Jackie looked on at the two of them, biting her lip.

"It's just like that Christmas all over again", the woman pointed out solemnly. Recalling the time, so long ago when freshly the regenerated Time Lord had collapsed in the middle of the Powell Estate, leaving them in the complete dark, when it came to knowing what was wrong or how to look after him.

"I know", spoke Rose, holding back painful tears.

"Do you think he just needs some tea, like last time?" Jackie suggested.

The paramedic suppressed a surprised snigger at that remark, causing both women's heads to turn. "Oh, this man is going to need more than tea", he then explained. "He's in bad shape."

Jackie was not going to stand for any of the medic's sass.  
"You don't think we can't tell that for ourselves?" She said, nostrils flaring. "Now shut up and do your job."  
Caught on the wrong end of the famous Tyler women's loathsome gaze, the paramedic was too shut down to make any further comment.

"Maybe", Rose got to half-heartedly reply to her mother. "It's worth a try. Hear that Doctor? 'Soon as we touch down in London, we'll get you some tea, yeah? Wouldn't you like that?"

The Doctor moaned.

Now Rose was the one with fast beating heart. "Doctor, can you hear me?" Rose said, squeezing at one of his hands, noting worryingly how cold it was, even though his head still burned rather feverishly. His eyelids fluttered slightly. "Are you in pain?" Rose asked. When The Doctor features twitched a little, she instantly regretted those words. _Of course he's in pain_, she chided to herself. "Wait, don't answer that. Can you tell us what's wrong with you? How can we help?"

Slowly, The Doctor's eyes became half open, but Rose could tell he wasn't really focussed, just from how glazed over they appeared. Moving herself, so that she was more in his line of vision, Rose moved his oxygen mask aside, so that he'd be able to speak clearly. His mouth was slightly open, but did not move. Then both his eyes rolled back and there was a loud beeping alarm.

"Move aside", spoke the medic, pushing Rose out of the way and pulling out a defibrillator.

"What's happening to him?" asked Jackie.

"His heart is in fibrillation. I have to shock him", the paramedic answered her. Placing two paddles on The Doctor's bare chest, he charged up the machine and announced, "Clear". Electric vaults coursed through The Doctor's body. Rose gasped and watched on as his body jolted sharply on the stretcher.

The pulsing line on the monitor having had reset to a much steadier rhythm, Rose waited patiently for the paramedic to finish listening intently to The Doctor's chest with a stethoscope. Then he nodded an all clear to her. Cautiously, she moved forward and cupped The Doctor's face in her hand.

_His 'new, new' face_, she thought fleetingly.

"_I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything – except I've only got one heart."_

"_Which means?"_

"_I'm part human, specifically the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you – if you want."_

Oh how she wished his eyes would snap open and he'd beam that familiar grin and tell her he's 'Always alright'. She reminded herself of the unlikeliness of any miraculous spring back to alertness and health this time, which had been so common with The Doctor. It seemed she also had to keep reminding herself, that he was not the Time Lord.  
This proved difficult. All she saw, when looking down at this man, was the ailing form of her one true love that she had crossed universes to be with again and disbelief washed over her.

Her Time Lord had been strong. This man was weak. He could snap like a twig and never come back. He was _so fragile_. Not just a man with the same face. But then her Doctor had left her with this double, expecting her to make him better.  
As far as she could justify, he was mostly The Doctor though and to her that seemed better than no Doctor at all. She had no idea how she could handle it if his one life was cut short so very quickly. Before she ever really got to truly know him.

"I love you."

Rose was caught off guard by the raspy and muffled voice, coming from the stretcher. Instantly, she assumed he was awake again, but no. A fever induced dream. She could see how his eyes moved rapidly under their lids and sweat prickled across his forehead.

"Oh Doctor. What's happening in that head of yours?" she spoke, tousling a hand through his dishevelled hair. Jackie's arm was wrapped around her only daughter, squeezing her tight in an attempt to make her feel better. Rose leant into her mother's shoulder and went to pieces.


	3. Make Him Better

From the moment they landed, it was all go. Rose was astonished at how quickly The Doctor was sped away from her and whisked off into the building, to be transported to a medical suite. Clearly Torchwood had been well prepared for their arrival. Jackie kept her arms wrapped tightly around Rose, but when Pete rushed over to greet them, the both fell into his arms and the family embraced. The wind was choppy though, so they didn't stay there long, before moving under shelter.

"I've got Tony with a babysitter", he says as they walk inside.

"I should hope so", responds Jackie "The last thing that boy needs is to be hanging around Torchwood where he can get up to lord knows what."  
Rose remained silent, with her head down. Wanting to comfort his adopted daughter, Pete Tyler found a blanket to wrap around her, while she waits on a cold couch in the corridor outside The Doctor's room, for any news.

"He's getting the best care possible, love", he tells her.

"I know", she says.

Time passes ever so slowly and yet the whole world seems to be rushing around her and she is caught up in the middle of it. She knows her mother had said something about tea, before bustling off. Her mind desperately tries to sort out the events for the past few days. Never did she expect she would have to be struggling on this long.

"You should get some rest", Pete tells her, placing a hand, over both of hers, where they rest in her lap.

"Not until I've seen him", she insists.

Pete wants to argue. He can see the layers of exhaustion threatening to overwhelm the girl, but he knows very well, that Rose will fight until she gets what she wants.

"I'll see what I can do", he says, leaving her.

Sometime later, Dr Owen Harper, one of Torchwood's medical operatives exits The Doctor's room, clipboard in hand. In a flash Rose was on her feet and craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the part-Time Lord, but Owen has shut the door, before Rose can see anything behind him.

"We've got him stabilized Rose", he stated at seeing her apprehensiveness. "But we don't know what's wrong with him. I need to ask you some questions about The Doctor, okay? Just sit down for now" Rose wants so badly to just ignore Owen and burst into that room, but she refrains and sits down. "Good. Now, tell me exactly what happened, from the beginning."

"There was this, well The Doctor called it a 'meta-crisis' or something. He's only got one heart", she spluttered.

Owen had made to jot down her words, but cuts in "Hang on, slow down. Explain yourself. How many hearts is he supposed to have?"

"Two"

"Blimey. Okay, what happened to the other one then?"

"Nothing, this Doctor's always had one heart. It was the other one, the Time Lord one-"

"Rose, you're going to need to backtrack, just a bit more for me on this one. You're not making sense."

Taking a deep breath, Rose tried again. "Yes, alright, The Doctor was dying, right?" Owen has his pen at the ready, tongue between his teeth, nodding to coax her along. "Well, he does this thing when he is about to die, called regeneration. Basically, he changes, his face, his whole body, everything." She begins to explain. "Except he's the same man", she chooses to emphasize.  
Owen continues to nod and Rose knows he is doing his best to understand. It is vital he understands everything if they're going to help him. He's the man with the medical knowledge after all.  
"Only this time, it went a bit different. You see, when he had last regenerated, it went a bit wrong, and he was passed out. Tea helped him though –got him awake again. Afterward though, he lost his hand in a fight. It got cut off, but he was still regenerating at the time and was able to grow another one. The next time he regenerated, he had this hand spare right, so he didn't have to regenerate all the way. He sort of used the hand to channel his energy and still look the same. Then he was alright."

Owen frowned, when Rose paused and said, "That's amazing and all, but he's clearly not alright just now, so I'm guessing there's more to it."

"The Doctor had this friend called Donna", spoke Rose. "She's human. The spare hand still had all this Time Lord energy in it and Donna, she touched it, got her own DNA all mixed up and it triggered something. The hand grew into a clone of The Doctor -except he wasn't exactly the same. This Doctor only has the one heart. He's part human, with one life. He can die. He seemed fine though, healthy in fact, until a little while after we got dropped back into this universe and that's when he collapsed." Rose's shoulders dropped. It felt good to let out some of the events she had just been through.

"That's great, Rose. You've done really well", Owen wasn't being patronizing. He understood Rose had been through hell and back the past while and any Doctor could clearly tell she was in no fit state to be pushed just now.  
He did wish she would at least sleep, but knew better than to ask it of her. It was unlikely she would rest until she got some peace of mind, involving The Doctor. She would have to see him with her own eyes and know that things were being done to make him better.  
"His heartbeat is still extremely elevated, so we're watching him closely. This could have to do with the fact that his body is used to functioning with a binary-vascular system and it's trying to compensate. We can fix that, alright.  
I'm worried about his temperature too. We have to be careful that his brain doesn't cook.  
What I plan to do next is run some standard tests. We are not about to do anything invasive, without getting a thorough understanding of his physiology, what parts are where and what drugs are safe to use on him.  
As far as I can see, we're working from scratch. We don't know how much of him is human or how much is Time Lord, so we have to work that out. At the moment though, it looks like his brain isn't too sure on this matter either. It may be a simple matter of giving him time to adjust."  
Rose took this all under consideration, but was perched on the edge of her seat. She wasn't going to stay there much longer.  
"Come with me", said Owen, presenting an arm to pull her to her feet and lead her through to The Doctor.


	4. Changes

**[A/N: Wow, I never expected to get so many people following this story. Thank you all very much. Sticking in some original characters this chapter. Hope they're okay.]**

Further medical operatives hovered around The Doctor's bed. They made way for Rose, as she came forward to examine the patient for herself. He was quite still, except for the slow rise and fall of his chest. Torchwood had covered him in fresh ice-packs, attached intravenous drips, put a tube up his nose and stuck electrodes to him. He was wired up to some machines, which measured his vitals.

"Are his heart and his head doing alright?" Rose wondered.

"We've got him on some emergency medication, to slow his heart," Owen told her. "It seems to be working with his system. There's still a chance his heart could go out of whack again though. Its best he keeps as calm as possible. His brain activity is fluctuating quite unusually. I'd like to do some scans and get a closer look at what's going on there. In fact, a full body scan would probably be ideal." Owen came forward with a needle. "I'm just going to take some blood from him now," he said. Rose nodded and made room for Owen as he worked. In no time at all, he had a small vial of The Doctor's blood, which he had his team take away to be tested. The Doctor hadn't so much as twitched.

"Why won't he wake up?" asked Rose.

"He's just asleep." Owen answered. "It could be dangerous to try wake him up, should he stress too much. Its best we let him do it on his own terms."

Rose made a nod of understanding, which turned into a yawn, she failed to conceal.

"You're exhausted," Owen stated. "You should try and get some sleep."

"Not yet," answered Rose. Owen was about to argue his point, when they were interrupted by another voice entering the room.

"How hard can it be to get a cup of tea in this place, honestly? It's all coffee, coffee, coffee with these people. It's all they drink, I swear. Finally tracked some down though, here you are", said Jackie, bustling in, with a tray, which she then placed on an empty smell of tea wafted through the little room.  
She put her hands on her hips and glanced down at The Doctor. "Is it the same as last time then? Is tea going to help?"

"I can't see how it could hurt", admitted Owen. "When he wakes up, we can try getting him to drink some." As if on cue, The Doctor's eyes fluttered open.

"There you are sunshine," spoke Jackie. She took a mug from the tray and held it forward. The Doctor stared at it.  
His heartbeat rose somewhat, then he grimaced and hissed, making to bring his hands up to his head, but they got tangled in the wires and tubes. The Doctor was groaning and wriggling about.  
The beep of his heart monitor sped up and Owen looked at Rose warningly. Taking Owen's hint, Rose gently placed a hand on The Doctor's chest and spoke soothingly,

"It's alright Doctor. Doctor, look at me," The Doctor stopped moving and looked at Rose, his breathing coming out in heavy puffs. "Doctor, mum's got you some tea. It might help."

"Tea, yes tea, tea is good, tea," mumbled The Doctor.

Owen put an arm around The Doctor and hoisted him up, while Rose fluffed his pillows. She then took the mug from her mother and held it up to The Doctor's mouth. He didn't take it in his hands, but his mouth opened enough for Rose to pour a little bit in, which The Doctor was able to swallow. Then his eyes drifted shut once more, his body calming.

"That was good Rose. You did well. I'm just going to speak with the other doctors for a bit. There's a call button here, should you need anyone, alright?" said Owen, clearly showing a button next to the bed.

"Yes, okay," confirmed Rose.

The lab was down the hall. Owen wouldn't be long. He just wanted to see how his team was going with the tests and have a quick discussion with them.  
As the top medical operative at Torchwood and most trusted by Rose, he was leading this case, but he could not by far solve this alone. He needed to bounce his findings off his team and come to some sort of conclusion. He hoped they could sort out from his blood, what sort of medications The Doctor could be given that would comply with both his human and Time Lord properties.  
When Owen entered the lab, he found his team in full swing, with microscopes and vials, working hard. Dr Trevor Smith was analysing a blood sample under a microscope, Dr Natalie Brooke was mixing chemicals and Dr Percy Hollow was going over results on the computer. He couldn't help but be proud of them. All three of them were highly skilled doctors and scientists, but neither of them had dealt with aliens or even knew of their existence as long as he had. By now though, they knew the drill and after having helped complete the dimension cannon, they knew how important The Doctor was to the universe itself and the boss' daughter.

After relaying the notes from his conversation with Rose to his team, he went for a brief summary of The Doctor's condition. "Right, here we have a few hours old, adult male, part human/part Time Lord hybrid suffering from high fever, heart and brain malfunction and in severe pain. We're working with something completely new here and have to be very careful. The patient is very fragile and we can't be sure what is going to react with his unique physiology or not. We need to know what we're dealing with. In the past his Time Lord body has not reacted well with regeneration, but this time he is not full Time Lord and we can't be sure that's all that is going on here. I want to give him a full body MRI," Owen spilled, upon entering the room.  
"Okay team, so what have you found so far?" Percy answered first.

"I've never seen blood quite like this. It's unlike any human or alien blood we've come across. The very cell structure is completely unique. If this guy ever needs a transfusion, we're not going to be able to supply it," explained Percy.

"Better start banking his blood from now on then," realized Owen. "Anything else?"

"I've been working on a suitable sedative, should we need it and also a pain killer that will comply with his blood work," announced Natalie.

"Good work Nat."  
Everyone turned to Trevor, who was still staring intently down the lens of the microscope.  
"And you, Trev? What have you found?"

"This blood sample, its different-" spoke Trevor.

"Yes we know he's got different blood to everyone else," cut in Owen, rolling his eyes. "Have you nothing new to report?"  
Trevor shook his head.

"No that's not what I mean", Trevor interjected. "This blood sample is different to the one on Percy's computer.

"Impossible", stated Percy, disbelievingly. "It was the same blood, drawn at the same time."

"Yeah, but look at this." Trevor had moved off his seat and gestured for Percy to take a look through the microscope for himself.

"It's changed", realized Percy. "I need to run this through my computer again."

"So, its mutated then?" asked Natalie.

"Possibly," mused Owen. "Let me take a look at it", but it was then that all four doctor's pagers went off and in flash they were running back to The Doctor's room.


	5. Something for the Pain

**[A/N: Hello again.**

**I just gotta say that I am very incredibly stoked with life at the moment, because I got to see King Cannons play on the weekend with my best pal Emma and we got to meet the band and hang out with them backstage. And what's more is I'm going to be at Slash's concert next weekend even, with my best mates, Elizabeth and Hayley.**  
** I know this has nothing to do with this story at all, but I just need to share okay, because asdfghjkl;!**

** Anyway.. here's your chapter]**

When the four doctors arrive, charging back into the patient's room, they are surprised to find The Doctor, sitting up, looking bright and alert. Rose grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry about that. It's just he was waking up and I didn't know what to do."

"It's alright Rose," said Owen, moving over to the bed. However, Owen does not seem to look relieved at all, with his face set into a deep frown. He pulls a torch from his pocket and shines it in The Doctor's eyes, moving his finger out in front. The Doctor follows Owen's finger compliantly and explains,

"I'm fine," The Doctor stated. "Just had a bit of regeneration sickness, that's all. It's all very normal for me. Tea, that's all I needed. Good cup of tea! Super-heated infusion of free-radicals and tannin, just the thing for healing the sy –Arrrrgh!"  
The Doctor fell against Owen, grabbing the lapels of the Torchwood doctor's coat.

"What is it? What's wrong?" pleaded Rose, moving forward, putting a hand on one of The Doctor's skinny legs.

"My head", was all The Doctor could answer through heavy pants.

"I think there's more going on here than just regeneration sickness," concluded Owen. "Doctor, we're going to take a look at your brain with an MRI and the rest of your body, to get a look at what might be wrong inside you, okay?"  
The Doctor just gasped and gritted his teeth.

"Hurts," he moaned.

"Is there anything we can give you, to stop the pain? We aren't sure what's safe." Owen tried.

"No- aspirin.. aspirin very, very bad," The Doctor made clear, with wide eyes, tightening his grip on the fabric of Owen's clothes.

"Okay. We promise we won't give you any aspirin," assured Owen. "What can we give you?"

"Nothing, don't give me anything. I'll just sleep. Need to sleep", The Doctor mumbled, his eyes lids growing heavy. Percy clapped a hand on The Doctor's shoulder.

"We're going to find out what's wrong with you fist lad," he told his patient. "We've got a wheel chair for you. We'll take you through to the MRI."  
The Doctor gave his best nod and allowed the operatives to help him into the chair, Natalie had pulled out and unfolded from the side of the room, which he slumped into, still groaning.

"Owen, I have something that might help his pain," said Natalie.

"We don't know if it will help though", said Owen. "If he is mutating, his body could reject it."

"Mutating, what?" asked Rose, but was silenced as The Doctor let out a hoarse scream and thrashed in his chair.

"If we're going to put him through an MRI, we can't have him moving around like that," Natalie pointed out. Owen watched The Doctor for a moment, while Rose held the sick man's hand and cupped his pale face. Then he seemed to come to a decision. "Alright, give him a small dose. We'll see what happens from there." Natalie hurried back to the lab to fetch the concoction.

"Owen, tell me what you meant by mutating", ordered Rose, her eyes boring into the Torchwood doctor.

"His blood is changing, as we speak," Owen conferred. "For all we know, the rest of him is too. There's a fight going on inside him. He's unstable. If we don't work out a way to get these two battling sides of him to settle into any kind of stasis, his body may very well give up."

Rose took in this information with fresh tears in her eyes and Jackie made to hug her daughter once more.

"Rose. He won't give up. He's The Doctor, isn't he?" reassured Jackie.

"I'm not sure he's quite enough Doctor, mum," admitted Rose, as The Doctor's face contorted with another bout of pain. Natalie came back in then, with a syringe in hand. She was about to inject it, when The Doctor flinched out of the way.

"Nargh, no aspirin! Will kill me", he whined.

Rose took The Doctor' face in her hand, so that he was forced to look into her eyes. Rose noticed how The Doctor's brown eyes were still bright with fever appeared riddled with pain. There was something else there though, fear or confusion perhaps?

"Listen to me, Doctor," Rose encouraged. "This is Dr Natalie Brooke and she isn't going to cause you any harm. She is just going to give you something to take away the pain and then you're going to have some scans taken, okay?"

"Okay", The Doctor answered, his voice cracking. Natalie slipped the needle in. The Doctor relaxed and then smiled.

"There, isn't that better?" asked Natalie, curiously.

"Yeah," answered The Doctor, sounding relieved.

"Alright Percy, go ahead and get the MRI ready. Trev, get some fresh ice-packs", said Owen.

"Right away," spoke Percy and Trevor in unison, leaving the room.

Jackie was no medic, but she knew The Doctor needed a little something extra. He was taking long shallow breaths and looked very worse for wear. Bending over, she pushed some of The Doctor's hair back. The Doctor flinched slightly at her touch, but then relaxed into the coolness of her hand, against his own hot skin.

"More tea?" she offered.

"Yes please," answered The Doctor, reaching out to grab the mug that Jackie held out for him, but missing by a considerable distance. Determinately, he tried again, with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and failed. This time he let out a frustrated cry and Rose took the mug for him.

"Co-ordinations a bit off," noted Trevor, entering with extra ice-packs. The Doctor glared at Trevor, but tilted his head back, so Rose could tip the drink down his throat.

"We can put any confusion and lack of co-ordination down to the fever," regarded Owen, taking the ice-packs from his team member and placing them over The Doctor and holding one against his temple, to which The Doctor gave a contented sigh.  
"Once we have the rest of his blood results back and we can work out any more helpful medications from there. He already claims he can't take aspirin. This is clearly something The Doctor understands about himself from being a Time Lord. However, we don't know if it's still relevant, now that he possesses human biology also. Any circumstances for an ill Time Lord could be void, while human stands, or vice versa or a bit of both. Like I said, we need to work out how human he is and how Time Lord he is. So, we need to get on that now. Trevor, finish analysing that blood. Natalie can join us at the MRI." His team members nodded.  
"Okay. He's had his tea. Let's get this show on the road," insisted Owen, once The Doctor had fully drained his mug.  
Natalie pushed The Doctor down the hall in his wheelchair, while Rose held his hand and Jackie kept her arm around Rose. Owen kept an eye on The Doctor's monitors and took care of his drips.

"Rose, where am I?" The Doctor, questioned, when they were almost at the MRI room.

"You're at Torchwood," replied Rose, rubbing his hand in hers. "It's the hospital section."

"Oh," The Doctor answered. "Does it have a little shop?" Rose couldn't help but chuckle at that remark. It was another cute quirk of The Doctor, showing he was still him, despite all this.

"Not yet, but we could look into it," she told him, winking.


	6. Humanity

**[A/N: To the reviewer, 'jc', sorry if I confused you, but seeing as this is set in Pete's World, I'm going with the idea that it still maintains its Torchwood base in London, as it did in 'Doomsday'.**

**Also, being trying to update this fic at least weekly, but I'm about to start a new job, so not sure how steadily I'll get to mantain that. We'll see, I guess.]**

Rose, Jackie and the three Torchwood doctors all crowded into the small monitoring room of the MRI unit.

"Alright Doctor, we need you to keep very still for us." Owen instructed over the microphone. The MRI hummed as it took scans of The Doctor's prone form, which lay within the bulky machine.

Pete Tyler had to do a lot of sorting out from recent events, including debriefing and stack loads of paperwork. However, he had taken a break, to check in on how his family were doing.  
When Rose noticed her father enter the room, she sunk into his arms.

"How's The Doctor doing?" Pete asked.

"They're just getting their scans now, on this machine here," Jackie explained, as if she had all that much of a clue.

Slowly images began to show up. The three Tylers were immediately stumped by what they saw, but the three medical operatives studied the images intently.

"That can't be normal," spluttered Percy disbelievingly.

"His brain is divided into three hemispheres," stated Owen.

"But look here. The third hemisphere doesn't seem to be functioning. Look how dark it is," Natalie pointed out. "And there rest of it appears to be under a fair bit of strain."  
More scans appeared on the monitor.

"Shit", said Owen. Dark spots were beginning to rapidly appear dotted about his brain. "His brain is shutting down." In a flash Owen left the monitoring room and was at The Doctor's side. "Doctor, are you with us? Can you hear me?"

"Yep," emanated The Doctor's muffled reply from inside the machine.

"Tell me how you are feeling," ordered Owen.

"Want to sleep", The Doctor groaned.

"Don't go to sleep Doctor. You need to stay with us, alright?"

"What's wrong with me?" The Doctor pleaded.

"We're trying to find out," responded Owen, re-checking The Doctor's vitals. To his surprise The Doctor didn't seem any worse off than before.

"Can I see the scans?" requested The Doctor, causing Owen to hesitate. "I'm just as curious about my physiology as you are right now. I might be able to shed some light on this." The Doctor justified.

"We could do with some light", spoke Owen, startled at how well The Doctor was functioning under so little brain power.  
He truly wanted The Doctor's own opinion on this, but it didn't seem urgent, now that The Doctor didn't appear to be in immediate danger. They still had the full-body scan to complete.  
"As long as you're feeling okay, we'll finish the rest of the scans and get the rest of the results first. You're doing great, just keep lying still. You can signal us at any time, if you need to."  
Owen resumed his seat in the monitoring room. "Well, he seems to be fine. At least no worse than he was. Although, I can't see how that's possible with the results-"

"Owen, his scans have changed already. Look at this," interrupted Natalie, pointing at the screens. Owen could scarcely believe it. His whole brain make-up had altered in the short time he had gone away. Any dark spots that had shown up before had either vanished or moved.

"Well, this explains his fluctuating brain activity at least," dismissed Owen, eager to carry on with the rest of the exam. "Let's have a look at the rest of him."

"Blimey. He's got two hearts," Percy spluttered, when scans of The Doctor's chest began to show up.

"What?" Rose exclaimed loudly, her whole body stiffening.  
She stared, transfixed by the shape on the right side of his chest. She was promised he would have the singular heart. Now that there was possibly a second, she didn't know what to make of it.

"No, not two hearts," corrected Natalie, inspecting the scan more closely. "There is what could be another heart on the right side of his chest. See this mass here. That's all it is though, a mass. It isn't pumping any blood. It doesn't even have any valves to do so. In fact it seems like no more than extra muscle tissue that never quite formed."

"Is that bad?" asked Rose, worriedly.

"Not necessarily," Owen admitted. "-As long as his fully-formed heart is still functioning, that is. We'll keep an eye on it though. If it becomes a problem, we can look at removing it, but it seems benign enough.  
I am more worried about that brain of his. If neural patterns are interchanging so rapidly, it seems like his mind is having a hard time balancing to the right Time Lord/human ratio. His brain make-up is far too foreign from anything I've ever dealt with. Doing anything invasive there would most definitely prove fatal."

"Everything else seems to be in order," noted Percy, after analysing the rest of The Doctor's internal structure. "A few organs out of place, but nothing too dissimilar from other humanoid aliens we've dealt with."

"Excellent", commented Owen. "I want print outs of all these scans. We'll be conducting more on his brain later. Natalie, go fetch our patient. I believe he has already fallen asleep. It's time we get him back to bed."

The Doctor was indeed asleep. The doctors allowed him the rest though, knowing his brain wasn't about to switch off and believing it being their best hope at keeping his body in any kind of balance at present. He only ever stirred slightly when he was moved into the wheel chair and again when he was put back into bed.  
Rose stayed at his bedside, despite being told several times, by both her family and the staff, that she should get some rest. Pete and Jackie had already gone home to be with Tony, by the time The Doctor roused once more.

"Hello," Rose spoke, leaning over The Doctor, as he groaned awake. "How are you feeling?"

"Been better", he admitted, his voice raspy. "Can I have a drink?"

Rose reached for the water at his bedside and let him sip from the cup, while she rattled off what she had recalled from the MRI exam. The Doctor seemed to be listening intently, but was wincing as he did so.

"Do you need more pain killers?" Rose asked, to which The Doctor gave a nod. Rose pushed the call button and in a moment Natalie was there, with another top-up of her concocted pain relief.

The next thing The Doctor was asking for was to have a look at his scans, so printouts were provided for him. He struggled to hold them up for himself, so Trevor did so, while The Doctor's brown eyes scrutinized the images shown to him.

"Hmm, yes this is bad," he said, his palm rubbing down his face in desperation. "In fact, its several bus rides from good. Normally, under these conditions a Time Lord would go into a healing coma. I'm no longer full Time Lord though, but parts of my brain don't know that and are trying to force it, resulting in a neural shut down."

"What can we do?" asked Owen.

"I can't choose to slip into a coma anymore. It's what my body needs though –why I've felt the need to sleep so strongly."

"Are you suggesting we induce a coma?" asked Owen.

"It's the only option I can think of," stated The Doctor, sighing and rubbing his face once more.

"And if you don't get put in a coma?" Rose wondered.

"Well, it's hard to say really," The Doctor said with half shrug, but then his features turned ominous and he admitted, "Worst case scenario though, I go into complete neural shutdown. "

"And how likely is that?" asked Rose.

Before The Doctor could answer, Owen felt the need to explain, "Your temperature has dropped significantly Doctor. Your heart is doing fine with the medication we've put you on. I would say you're pulling through this. Right now I am diagnosing rest and keeping track of your neural patterns. If things worsen, we'll keep the coma in mind."

"I would say the coma is essential" stated The Doctor.

"You aren't a Time Lord anymore Doctor," stressed Owen. "In fact you're becoming more and more human. Several blood tests are showing your cells to be settling into a very human structure."

The Doctor looked startled. "I'm becoming more human", he echoed, his voice fumbling.

"That was the plan though, right?" said Rose. "You can have a human life now, so we can spend it together and grow old at the same time, yeah?"

The Doctor sucked in a breath. "Yeah", he said, giving Rose a smile.


	7. Rest for the Wicked

Finally, Rose went home to sleep. When she awoke, she was confused and disorientated to find herself in the darkness of her own room at the Tyler mansion. She realized that she was lying on top of her bed covers, with her clothes on. With the curtains drawn, it was impossible to tell what time of the day it was.

Groggily she reached for her phone, realizing she been asleep for at least fifteen hours. Her brow furrowed, cross at herself for sleeping so long. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Rose planted both feet on the ground. It was then that she noticed that her shoes had been removed, but didn't recall ever taking them off. All she had done was lie herself down, hoping to have a quick kip. She tried to tell herself that she was only doing it in order to button the mouths of everyone that was insisting she go home and sleep and then she could get back to the Doctor.  
However, deep down she knew she had needed it. The fact that she'd been unconscious so long was only testament to the matter.  
After getting up slowly, so as not to dizzy herself, Rose made her way to the kitchen. Her mouth felt parched absolutely dry and she could do with a cup of coffee to get her going again.

Little Tony Tyler had an exuberance for life and so made it his routine to be up at the crack of dawn to greet the day and get on with whatever fun it may offer. This meant, that Jackie Tyler was already up, trying to settle the toddler down at the table for his breakfast and was there waiting, when Rose ambled her way in, automatically heading for the coffee.

"Good morning to you too", spoke Jackie.

"Huh wha' yeah. Mornin'", mumbled Rose, through a yawn.

"Get enough sleep then?" Jackie asked, while trying to put a stop to Tony's new idea that the table needed to be decorated with bits of cereal.

"Enough to last a life time," exaggerated Rose. Though she did feel quite a lot refreshed and the long sleep would hopefully keep her going a long while yet. She wanted to get back to Torchwood and see how The Doctor was doing.  
Well, the 'Not-Quite-Doctor'. She realized to herself that she had been referring to him as The Doctor often enough and so had everyone else, in a bid to give him any kind of identity. The Doctor's identity was The Doctor's though and The Doctor's alone. This other man would have to make one of his own and truly prove himself to her if she would accept him at all.  
Although, that didn't stop her from caring about the man deeply, her one connection left to her beloved Time Lord. For now she would have to call him The Doctor until anyone came up with anything otherwise.  
Her head was still swimming with confusion. Her sleep had done nothing to sort out the billowing storm of thoughts that had tangled up in her mind. Instead it just served to take care of her exhaustion.  
Downing her coffee, Rose got up.  
"Right, I'll be going to have a shower then and changing out of yesterday's clothes. Then I'm back off to Torchwood."

"So soon, love?" said Jackie. "You'd better at least have some proper breakfast. I know you're worried about him back there in that hospital bed, but you've got to take care of yourself too. Tell you what, if you have something decent to eat, I'll drive you there myself.  
Rose wrinkled her nose, but did as her mother requested of her, realizing only then that she did actually feel quite hungry. By the time Rose was ready; Pete was up and could take care of Tony, while the two women went off to Torchwood. He would meet them after Tony had been dropped off to day care.

The drive to Torchwood was not so bad, as it was still very early and the traffic was next to none. It still seemed too long to Rose though. The longer she spent away from him, the more it felt like that everything that had happened in the past while was no more than a dream. Being around this man, made everything seem just so much more real to her, than working in a shop, going home, watching telly and eating chips ever did.

The parking for Torchwood employees was all underground. Swiping an I.D. card allowed them allowed access and pulled into car park. Rose was out the door in a flash and made her way up to reception, where she flashed her I.D. once more, even though everyone around here knew full well who she was. She just didn't need any distractions from getting back to The Doctor's room.  
It was a condition of her going home at all, that the doctors had to let her know immediately if The Doctor made any turns for the worse. Although, she had not heard anything from them and no news should be good news, her stomach still clenched when she opened the door to The Doctor's room.

Figuring he would be asleep, Rose tip-toed lightly into the room and shut the door carefully as carefully as she could, but it still emanated a light click when it shut.

"Rose" said a very muffled voice, from beneath the bed sheets.

"You should be asleep," Rose replied, walking across to him.

"Yeah well, no rest for the wicked, right?" he huffed, squirming between the sheets, which had been tangled, as if he was tossing and turning all night.

"You're not wicked," she told him, cupping is cheek. Gesturing to the mess he had made of the bed, she asked, "How did you manage this?"

"Couldn't get comfortable, I guess", he stated, waving the subject off.

"Well, here now, shift up. Let me sort it out for you," Rose instructed. The Doctor shuffled upwards in the bed, but let out a pained hiss. "Are you okay?" Rose asked, leaning over him. He nodded and explained,

"Head still hurts."

"If you're in pain, you tell someone, got it?" Rose scolded, straightening the sheets back up and tucking The Doctor in. She pointed at the call button and said "Press that now."  
The Doctor grumbled a little, but reached a hand out and clicked it.  
"Good. It's okay to admit you're in pain alright. You're not going to be bothering anyone. It's their job to make sure you're comfortable. Now, would you like some water?"

"Yes, please", The Doctor responded.

Rose went to get some fresh water, when she collided with Trevor just outside the door.

"Sorry Rose. I didn't see you there," he apologized.  
Rose hadn't had much to do with Trevor at Torchwood, as he was the newest medical recruit. The youngest Torchwood medical operative, he had quite a nervous energy to him, but was eager to please and had apparently shown a lot of promise with his work in xenomedicine. He was very tall and thinly built, with shortly-cropped, light brown hair and green eyes.

"Nightmares again?" He asked, gesturing towards The Doctor's room.

"Pardon?" she spluttered, confused.

"We've been in and out of this room all night. His heart was going very fast and he was in a sweat."

"Why didn't you call me?" gaped Rose, clearly upset.  
Although The Doctor had rarely slept, when they had travelled together, she had been witness to him during nightmares, aboard the TARDIS. It wasn't pretty.

"Relax Rose. Everything's fine. His fever has actually decreased. He just got a bit worked up. Like I said, nightmares."

"Oh," responded Rose. "Yeah, his bed was quite a mess, back in there." Trevor chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I bet it is. Look, he called again though. I had better get in there."

"His head still hurts." said Rose.

"Yes, he's due for some more pain relief, but he was finally sleeping soundly, so we've left him a while." Rose nodded.

"Where is everyone else then? Surely, you didn't all stay here overnight?" she questioned.

"We're Doctors. We're used to working on little sleep. Yes, we've been here - in the sleeping quarters, taking turns, looking after our patient. Owen is adamant he be kept under strict observation for the next couple of days at least." Trevor told her, entering The Doctor's room. "Good morning Trouper. How're you feeling?" Trevor asked, checking up on The Doctor's monitors.

"Bit of a head ache," The Doctor said quietly.

"I've got just the thing for that." Trevor winked and took out the medicine, administering it.  
Rose smiled at the two of them.  
Then she left to get water, recalling the first time she had stumbled upon her Doctor, having nightmares.  
He had been back in his ninth incarnation. Loud screaming from the console room had woken her. The Time Lord had fallen asleep, in an awkward position, on the jump seat. Without his leather jacket for once, he had tumbled onto the floor and woken with a start. Hearing Rose enter the room, he had been quick to pick himself up and attempted to blink tears away from his cold blue eyes.  
He had apologized for waking her and explained that he had in fact been dreaming about the Time War, but did not elaborate past that. In fact, he had seemed embarrassed he had mentioned that much at all and shrugged his jacket back on. Neither of them felt very sleepy after that had gone to the moon, just so they could look down at Earth together, for a while.


End file.
